Statistical Analysis of Coins Lost in Circulation and Coins Carried

Abstract

Vastly more coins are produced each year than are returned to banks.  In this work, the rate at which coins fail to cycle through the economy (the rate of what will be called ``lost'' coins) is described by a power law with a universal negative exponent meaning coins of high value are less likely to be lost.  This power law is then used in a simple statistical model of coin use which is employed to fit prior experimental results: the distribution of number of coins carried.